National Hockey League (NHL) - Despite various positive additions since last season's Stanley Cup defeat to the Chicago Blackhawks, the team once again was broken by its eternal area of instability. Except for the now distant brilliance of Ron Hextall, or the Hall of Fame excellence of Bernie Parent, the ice eternally seems to crack under Philadelphia's goalie crease. With the Phoenix Coyotes potentially boomeranging to Winnipeg, organizational flux might allow their unrestricted free agent goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov (Phoenix Coyotes) (notes) to sign elsewhere. The Flyers must add this goalie, who was also a teammate of Chris Pronger's(notes) on the 2006-07 Anaheim Ducks Stanley Cup winning team. While he was a backup that season, his starting numbers since then have been stellar. (Yahoo! Sports article by Sean O'Brien) READ MORE

National Hockey League (NHL) - Despite various positive additions since last season's Stanley Cup defeat to the Chicago Blackhawks, the team once again was broken by its eternal area of instability. Except for the now distant brilliance of Ron Hextall, or the Hall of Fame excellence of Bernie Parent, the ice eternally seems to crack under Philadelphia's goalie crease. With the Phoenix Coyotes potentially boomeranging to Winnipeg, organizational flux might allow their unrestricted free agent goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov (Phoenix Coyotes) (notes) to sign elsewhere. The Flyers must add this goalie, who was also a teammate of Chris Pronger's(notes) on the 2006-07 Anaheim Ducks Stanley Cup winning team. While he was a backup that season, his starting numbers since then have been stellar. (Yahoo! Sports article by Sean O'Brien) READ MORE

National Hockey League (NHL) - Ilya Bryzgalov (Phoenix Coyotes), 29, started playing hockey when he was two years old in his hometown of Togliatti. He played in the house and out in the streets with a puck and stick his father and godfather made in a local factory. "I always play with older kids," Bryzgalov said. "They usually put me in the net because I was youngest." (AZCentral.com article by Sarah McLellan) READ MORE

National Hockey League (NHL) - 20 years old Viktor Tikhonov (Phoenix Coyotes) scored his first NHL double in tonight's game against the Calgary Flames. The Coyotes were down 7-3 late in the third period, when Tikhonov deflected a blue line slap shot by Keith Yandle. Three minutes later he further cut down the opponents' lead with a nice wrist shot from the right, being nicely feeded by Todd Fedoruk.
Early in the match he assisted on Coyotes' second goal, scored by Daniel Winnik. Viktor has been named third star of the match. Ilya Bryzgalov (Anaheim Mighty Ducks) played his 16th consecutive match. READ MORE

Ilya Bryzgalov (Anaheim Mighty Ducks) has begun to prepare for the 2007-08 season with his old Russian team HC Lada. He has also come to Togliatti to bring the Stanley Cup to the city where he got his professional start and first became a starting goaltender on a high level. – I want to see how Lada plays – said Bryzgalov to Sport Express correspondent Alexander Shapiro – too bad that I won’t be able to play for Lada at the tournament: according to the NHL rules, a player who has an active contract in North America is not allowed to skate for another team.

The Anaheim Mighty Ducks today exercised a one year team option on the talented Russian goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov. While this may have been great news for the young goaltender a couple of years back when his NHL future was far less certain, the club’s decision now puts him in a tough situation. Anaheim’s one year option is worth a relatively meager 456 thousand US dollars, which is likely to be far less than the value of the contract Bryzgalov recently signed with wealthy Russian club Avangard (Omsk), which is owned by the same oil mogul who owns the European soccer champion Chelsea. It is unclear whether the young goaltender will be willing to lose money to return to the NHL, unless the NHL club is willing to renegotiate the amount of the contract. Currently, Bryzgalov is practicing with Avangard, where he is due to compete for the starting position with Canadian Norm Maracle.

According to the club’s official website, Ilya Bryzgalov (Anaheim Mighty Ducks) signed a two year deal with RSL’s Avangard (Omsk). It is unclear whether the deal is dependent on the continuance of the lockout, but this is the most likely scenario, as Avangard already employes the services of former NHLer Norm Maracle.

Splitting the past several months in net with Fredric Cassivi, Ilya Bryzgalov (Anaheim Mighty Ducks) was relegated to the lowly backup role at the beginning of the AHL playoffs. However, the young goaltender answered the call when called upon in Game 4 of the series to replace Cassivi. While he eventually lost Game 4, Bryzgalov looked great in net and earned the next three starts from the coach known for his allegiance to a

World Championships - Russian national team’s head coach Vladimir Krikunov announced today that Maxim Sokolov will start in net for Russia during the 2005 World Championships. The announcement ended weeks of speculations that Ilya Bryzgalov (Anaheim Mighty Ducks) may be able to join the squad. The young goaltender’s AHL team is currently playing in the playoffs, which made his appearance at the WC virtually impossible. Sokolov will likely be backed up by an up and coming young Russian goaltender Alexander Yeremenko, who played well for Dynamo (Moscow) all season while former New York Rangers prospect Vitali Yeremeev was injured.

Ilya Bryzgalov signed a new deal with the Anaheim Mighty Ducks today. The young goaltender’s three year rookie contract expired this summer. The new deal includes a guarantied one season deal, with a club option for a second season. Byzgalov spent the 2003-04 as the number three goalie in Anaheim’s depth chart, behind backup Martin Gerber and starting goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere. The Ducks management opened a spot in the club’s lineup for Bryzgalov with the pre-draft trade of Gerber to the Carolina Hurricanes, so the young goalie from Togliatti should see a lot more NHL ice time next season.

AHL Playoffs - Ilya Bryzgalov’s (Anaheim Mighty Ducks) season is over. The young goalie performed admirably for the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks throughout the playoffs, but could not deliver the series victory to his team. He allowed five goals on 42 shots in the 6:3 loss in Game 6, with Milwaukee forcing a game seven. He was once again peppered in game seven, once again surrendering 5 goals on 36 shots behind a deflated Cincinnati defense. Despite the loss, Cincinnati had a lot to be proud of, winning their first ever playoff series and coming within a game of eliminating the top seeded club out of the playoffs. Ilya Bryzgalov’s performance has for the most part been stellar, with the young goalie often keeping his team in the games.

AHL Playoffs - Ilya Bryzgalov delivered a great performance to lead the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks to their third victory over the Milwaukee Admirals. The Ducks are just one win away from winning the best of seven series and making their way to the AHL semifinals. After allowing four goals in game 4, Bryzgalov closed the net on Milwaukee, allowing just one goal on 37 shots.

AHL Playoffs - Ilya Bryzgalov (Anaheim Mighty Ducks) earned a shutout in Cincinnati’s win over Milwaukee’s Sound Tigers, stopping all 22 shots he faced. He helped the Ducks take a 2:1 lead in the series. The young goaltender has been pivotal in Cincinnati’s playoff run.

AHL Playoffs - Ilya Bryzgalov (Anaheim Mighty Ducks) stopped 28 of 29 shots to backstop Cincinnatti closer to the club's first ever series win. They need to win one more game to advance past the Houston Aeros in the best of three series.

Ilya Bryzgalov made his first NHL start last night for the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. The young goaltender delivered a solid game for the Ducks, who beat the Phoenix Coyotes 3:2. Bryzgalov faced 27 shots in the contest. He showed off his quickness and great glove hand on several occasions.

Talent Analysis:

2001-2002 Update:
Ilya Bryzgalov has made the decision to cross the ocean and attend Anaheim Mighty Ducks training camp. There he delivered a solid performance, placing him third on the goalie depth in Anaheim behind Steve Shields and Jean-Sebastien Giguere. Ilya Bryzgalov became Anaheim's backup goalie for the first 4 games of the season due to Giguere's leg injury. During that stay Ilya relieved Shields in the game against the Washington Capitals during the second period and allowed a single goal on 12 shots. On October 11th Giguere was activated and Ilya was sent down the the Cincinnati Ducks of the AHL.

Ilya Bryzgalov is a great talent that has been already compared to the legendary Russian goaltender Vladislav Tretiak. Though it is too early to tell regarding the comparison, he has the size and the talent to become an NHL goaltender. Ilya is an example of a great player with a lot of promise who violates "the regime" early in his life and ruins all of his potential, going down in a meteoric decline before it had a chance to shine. Ilya’s first coach and a former Soviet Legendary player Alexander Konovalov helped Ilya get through his problems and learn from them to strengthen his mental toughness. Ilya said himself that "when I had a tough period in my life, he (Konovalev -- EB), you can say, took me off the streets. I was 13 and I was lead a bit in the wrong direction. Alexander Konstantinovich helped me to acknowledge this and since then has always shown his support. "

Ilya possesses the physical gift to become a dominating goaltender. Standing tall at 6’3 and filling that frame quite nicely with 198 pounds, Ilya is covers a lot of the net with just his size. There is a lot of talent beyond his size though. Ilya has excellent reflexes and has a solid glove hand. Ilya is a standout goalie and often skates out of the crease to challenge his opponents early. Though he himself said that he at first became a goalie because he was not a good skater, Ilya is solid on his blades and is extremely maneuverable around the crease when challenging shoots. He can almost instantaneously slide from one side of the crease to the other.

One of the biggest assets that Ilya brings with his game is his rock solid mental toughness. He possesses great confidence and competitive spirit, and also has the tools to back up his words. He displayed just how tough he is over the last couple of years, returning from a serious injury he sustained when a motorcycle struck him two years ago when he was 18. Though his development was slowed by a year, Ilya, with a lot of support from Lada’s coach, Gennadiy Tsygurov, rebounded from his injury. Prior to the 2000 NHL Entry Draft the CSB had Ilya Bryzgalov ranked first among European goalies. At this point Ilya’s only potential weakness is his extreme confident attitude and its potential impact on his teammates, especially the goalies. However, Ilya has brought his best game to support his confident attitude and earned the respect of his teammates.

Back In Russia:

2002-03 Season Review: Bryzgalov finished up his second year in North America. After a rough start, Bryzgalov leveled off and delivered a solid performance. The talented goaltender could only do so much behind the mediocre Cincinnati squad, but he still had a solid save percentage and unlike the previous year, he retained the starting role on the squad and delivered a much more consistent performance throughout the season.

Ilya has been born and raised in Togliatti Russia, the home of one of Russia’s biggest automobile manufacturers VAZ and it’s hockey team LADA. As mentioned earlier, Ilya’s first coach was Alexander Konovalenko and it was him who helped Ilya get through his early personal problems outside of hockey. Ilya began to play Lada 2 during the 1997-98 season when he was only 17. Ilya’s first chance to play for the main team came in late during the 99-00 season when he backed up a former NHL and Boston Bruins goalie Vensan Rhiendau, appearing in 13 games and registering a strong 1.38 GAA. Early on in the season Ilya was third in the net behind former Boston Bruins prospect Yevgeniy Ryabchikov and Vensan Rhiendau. To get more playing time Ilya was loaned to Spartak Moscow of the Russian Upper League and played 10 games for Spartak with a solid 2.10 GAA. Ilya’s performance was so impressive that Spartak’s head coach, Yakushin, who was also the coach of the Russian National team, invited him to the 2000 World Championships training camp. This past season Ilya chose to stay in Russia despite a contract offer from the Anaheim Mighty Ducks and solidified his position as the starting goalie for the team, playing in 28 out of the 35 games (1.65 GAA) of the first phase of the season and appearing in every game of Lada’s short lived playoff life this year.

Ilya has been one of the primary goalies for the Russian Junior National team for the better part of 1999 and 2000. He played in numerous International tournaments, including the Four Nations and Five Nations competitions. Ilya also represented Russia in the 2000 World Junior Under 20 Championships where the Russian squad earned a silver medal in large part due to his spectacular performance. Besides appearing in the WJC in January of 2000, Ilya did the unthinkable and earned the starting job for the senior Team Russia squad in the 2000 World Championships. The position was allegedly almost guarantied to another Russian young goaltender Yegor Podomatsky, but Ilya beat Podomatsky out of it during the training camp. Russia’s failure in the WC2000 was often blamed on the team’s starting goalie, Ilya, but Vladislav Tretiak himself said: "Any goalie has the right to let in 3 goals in a game. Bryzgalov did not even let in that many. However we still lost. What does this indicate? Only the weakness of our forwards".

NHL Outlook:

Though Ilya was half kidding when he said that his dream is to be "To become the best goalie in the NHL, nothing less!", he was only half kidding. Ilya is an ambitious player who has the talent to play on the level of many starting goalies in the NHL today. Anaheim Mighty Ducks saw this potential in this 20 year old future star and picked him with their 2nd pick 44th overall in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft. Ilya had a contract offer from Anaheim this season, but he decided to stay another year and Russia with Lada. It was worth it, as he started for LADA in the Super League against old and experienced players on the AHL level of hockey. Anaheim did acquire Shields towards the end of the 2000 season and has Giguere as their slated starter. However, when Ilya comes to North America they better make room for him. He is an extremely competitive individual and will fight for the starting position with Anaheim. He allegedly fought the starting position away from Rhiendeau by putting on his equipment and hanging over the boards before the coach pulled the other goalie during a bad game. That is the kind of competitive and confident person that is Ilya Bryzgalov.